“…ivory, and apes, and peacocks…” I thought it was Shakespeare, but it isn’t.
It’s I Kings, 10:22, “For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram; once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.”
What gorgeous language! This poem reminds me of “Ithaka,” by C. P. Cavafy, one of my favorites.

I have loved this poem since I was little – my Mum used to read it to me (not that we were a poetry reading household then apart from ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’,but it crept in from somewhere! And so did Masefield’s Sea Fever.)
I think Masefield saw the beauty in the British coaster,and the English Channel in March – that’s why it is in the poem alongside Ninevah,and the tropics and the stately galleon. 🙂